


Bear In The Attic

by SummerStormFlower



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Cleaning the attic, Comfort, Dinner With The Family, Josh is Sad, M/M, Neku cheers him up, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 07:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20004265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: While cleaning up the attic for Neku’s mother, Neku and Joshua find Neku’s favourite movie from his childhood. It brings up a bad memory for Josh.





	Bear In The Attic

There was so much junk! Honestly, the attic was practically filled to the brim with boxes of worthless things nobody wanted. Neku knew his mom was a nostalgic collector, but he never knew it was to this extent. No wonder he hadn’t been allowed up here as a child.

“Does she expect us to get this all done before evening?” Joshua asked incredulously, staring wide-eyed at the hoards of boxes in the room.

“No, don’t worry about that. She won’t mind a bit,” Neku reassured. He went over to the pile of boxes that had the words ‘Recyclable’ written in sharpie on the top. He was thankful his mom had labelled everything for them.

Joshua sighed, “If I had known how much there’d be, I never would’ve offered to help.”

“Yes, you would’ve. You adore my mom,” Neku said, throwing a teasing smirk at his boyfriend over his shoulder.

He’d never admit it, but Neku was right. Mrs. Sakuraba was a sweet lady, and ever since Josh had gone shopping with her for the first time, he’d had a soft spot for the orange-haired woman.

Josh averted his eyes, embarrassed. “Not my fault your mom’s a saint,” he muttered, “Unlike you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get over here and help me.”

The next couple hours were spent sorting through boxes, then sorting items into different bags for plastics, glass, and garbage. They found some very interesting things, some very weird things, and some toys from Neku’s childhood. 

Joshua teased him about a stuffed rainbow unicorn. Neku blushed and groaned. That old thing should’ve gotten thrown away a long time ago. But of course, mothers thought otherwise. 

“This is so coming home with us,” Josh said, holding the unicorn to his chest, and digging through another box that had ‘Keepsakes’ written on the side.

“Uh, not it’s not,” Neku said, but knew he couldn’t pry that unicorn away from Josh no matter how hard he tried. “Why are you even going through that stuff?”

Joshua smirked. “Because I like snooping through your things.”

“You do enough of that at home. You don’t need to do that here.”

“Yes, I do,” Joshua giggled, as Neku groaned once again.

He moved aside several letters and photographs, and stopped upon finding something different.

“Is this Winnie the Pooh?”

Neku crawled over to his side, taking the VHS tape out of the box. The cover had a yellow bear in a red shirt with a honey pot in arm.

“I loved this. I watched it all the time when I was five,” Neku said with a smile. He remembered sitting on the couch with his mom and dad, laughing at the silly bear’s adventures.

“That sounds nice.”

Neku’s smile fell, hearing the tone in Joshua’s voice. It didn’t hold its usual melody, sounding bland. When he looked up, there was a far away glint in Josh’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Neku asked.

Joshua looked down at his lap, fiddling with a loose thread on his knee. 

“Oh boys!” Neku’s mom suddenly called, “Dinner’s ready!”

Neku continued to state at Joshua, who’d yet to answer him. Josh only got quiet when something was really bothering him.

“We should...” Joshua started, hardly above a whisper. He didn’t meet Neku’s gaze as he stood up, playing with his hands nervously. “We should go eat. Wouldn’t want to keep your parents waiting.”

Neku frowned in concern. However, Josh wouldn’t appreciate being prodded at in front of his family, so he’d ask again when they got home.

Dinner with Neku’s mom and dad went by nicely, but Joshua’s reserved behaviour was anything but ordinary.  
_____________________

It rained on the drive back to their place, and they took off their wet jackets and socks, before settling in the living room.

Neku came out of the kitchen with hot chocolate. Joshua was curled up on the couch with Neku’s unicorn pressed to his cheek, a sad look on his face. 

“Okay,” Neku said, setting the hot chocolate on the coffee table. He sat down on the couch, wrapping his arm around Josh’s shoulder, and pulling him into an embrace. “What’s wrong?”

Joshua didn’t say anything, leaning on Neku’s chest, and burying his nose in the crook of his neck.

“Come on, baby,” Neku said gently, stroking Joshua’s hair, “Something’s on your mind. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Joshua was quiet for one minute more, closing his eyes at the feeling of Neku’s hand in his hair.

“When I was five,” he began hesitantly, “I saw this Winnie the Pooh movie in a gas station. My mother and I would always rent something to watch every Saturday.”

Neku nodded against the top of his head, urging him to go on.

“I really wanted to watch it, but when I asked my mother... she called me a stupid little pansy... Said she wasn’t going to watch a baby’s show.”

“Oh baby,” Neku said sadly.

“She rented a horror movie... I had nightmares for a month.”

Neku lifted Josh’s chin up, and put their foreheads together, rubbing his sides soothingly.

“I’m sorry.”

Joshua flushed shamefully, swallowing a lump in his throat. “It’s-it’s not a big deal. That was so long ago, it doesn’t effect me anymore.”

Neku sat up a little straighter, pushing some of Joshua’s curls away, and pressing a kiss to the scar on the left side of Joshua’s head.

“You’re not a stupid pansy,” he whispered, trailing kisses down to Joshua’s ear.

Joshua shut his eyes, Neku’s lips chasing away the memory, making his skin warm and his heart stutter.

“How about I go back to Mom’s tomorrow, and bring the movie here so we can watch it together?”

Joshua gripped Neku’s shirt, but refrained from touching his stomach. “You wouldn’t mind?” he asked, feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

Neku didn’t mind seeing an embarrassed Josh, but he minded—minded very much—when Josh was ashamed. “Of course not.” He kissed Joshua’s collarbone, earning a small whine, then moved up to kiss Joshua’s lips.

“You’ll do that tomorrow?” he asked, circling his arms around Neku’s waist.

Neku smirked playfully, grasping Joshua’s hip. “Since we have plans for tonight, I figured I should do it tomorrow.”


End file.
